This blog first appeared as an Editorial for the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) Journal. This highlighted the evidence base on both the longer-term and shorter-term increases in economic inactivity amongst particular groups, especially amongst those with health conditions or disabilities. These have pointed out that whilst the Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicates that unemployment is at a historical low, employment has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels with currently a quarter of a million fewer people in employment than before the pandemic.
Category: Citizenship
Cruel, impracticable, and false: the bogus assumptions underlying the New Plan for Immigration
The New Plan for Immigration (NPI) published in March 2021 lays out a ‘comprehensive reform of our asylum system’ in order to ‘address the challenge of illegal immigration’ (1-2)...
Individualism, Ideology and talking about Lives that matter
In May 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, protests swept across America and extended to the UK along with many other nations. Perhaps galvanised by the sheer brutality of George Floyd’s death, captured on film for all to witness; perhaps compounded by the collective psychological impact of Covid-19, a time when shared commitment to giving our all to protect life was seemingly at the heart of global consciousness and yet people of Black and ethnic minority backgrounds remained far more likely to die from it; George Floyd was the latest in a long line of Black men and women to die at the hands of those who should be there to protect them. His death sparked a response of collective action in America, not seen since the civil rights era. Under the mantra of ‘Black Lives Matter’, UK demonstrations took place in more than 150 towns and cities. From London to Hull, Manchester to Cardiff, Glasgow to Birmingham, Bristol to Sheffield, and Belfast to Bangor, anti-racism protestors united to demand radical change. Whilst demonstrating against police brutality and racism in America, protestors in the UK also emphasised how these same issues of anti-Black racism play out in the UK too, pointing to deaths including those of Rashan Charles, Sheku Bayoh, Mark Duggan, and Dalian Atkinson. All these men died during attempts by UK police to either apprehend or restrain them, or whilst in police custody. Protestors also highlighted the death of Belly Mujinga who lost her life to Covid-19 after reportedly having been spat at while working at Victoria Station. Her death offering just one poignant reminder of a significant disparity between racial groups in the UK which sees members of Black and Minority Ethnic communities more vulnerable to dying from Covid-19.
Citizenship and Engaging Marginalised Populations
On the 5th April 2017 the Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies ran a seminar on the topic of 'Citizenship and Engaging Marginalised Populations' in conjunction with the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice.
Making Sheffield A Centre for Social Justice
By Professor David Best, Professor of Criminology in the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, and Associate Professor of Addiction Science at Monash University, Melbourne.
How Offenders Can Bounce Back
The Prisons and Courts Bill 2017, sets out the purpose of prisons as : “In giving effect to sentences or orders of imprisonment or detention imposed by courts, prisons must aim to— (a) protect the public, (b) reform and rehabilitate offenders, (c) prepare prisoners for life outside prison, and (d) maintain an environment that is safe and secure.”
Marginalisation, Inclusion and Research: Academic Challenges?
As a feminist academic, my work often imbues my teaching and research practices with a firm sense of responsibility. It could be argued that the role of the feminist academic is to give voice to marginalised groups - particularly marginalised women, in order to expose inequalities, exclusion and stereotypes - 'to make everything less simple' as Mary Beard says. The feminist academic is often expected to challenge prevailing norms which impinge on the rights of 'marginalised groups'.
Post-truth and the Politics of Austerity: the impact on the left behind places and people in older industrial Britain
Professor Christina Beatty Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research Post-truth is defined as 'relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’. It was therefore not entirely surprising when Oxford Dictionaries announced it as their word of the year in … Continue reading Post-truth and the Politics of Austerity: the impact on the left behind places and people in older industrial Britain